2009 Comic-Con: 'Iron Man 2' Panel

Luke Y Thompson is covering the Con for DHD with an emphasis on Hollywood:

Wow. The most anticipated panel, IRON MAN 2, was also the most strangely truncated, ending a full 15 minutes before its time, where every other panel has run long. It also was the hardest to get into – even with a VIP pass, I still had to pull every string with Marvel publicists, who literally had to drag me through the crowd by publicists to the only open civilian seat. (Thanks! You ARE Iron Men and women.) But (a) it was all worth it, and (b), thanks, fans, for showing the TWILIGHT crowd that we still corner the market in crazy.

Now let’s talk footage.

We begin with Tony Stark, in the IRON MAN suit but unmasked, chilling out in the center of a giant donut sign on top of a donut store.

Next up is Senate hearings on CNN, with Stark being interrogated by Senator Stern (Garry Shandling) about how the Iron Man suit is an undeclared weapon. Stark insists it be called what it is – a hi-tech prosthesis. Stern insists it is a weapon and should be turned over to the government.

Stark: “I am Iron Man, the suit and I are one, and turning over the suit would be tantamount to indentured servitude or prostitution.”
Stern: “I’m not familiar with..”
Stark: “…prostitution? Of course not. You’re a SENATOR.”

Then we see Mickey Rourke with a movie-serial-killer-like collection of clips of Tony Stark. The Black Widow (Scaqrlett Johansson) does a little martial arts on unspecified attackers. Shot of a NASCAR-like track with a wrecked car, Stark in a race suit, and Rourke coming towards him, racking electric whips. He has a mechanical heart unit like Stark’s.

Scarlett asked about her audition, says she didn’t have a formal one.
Downey: “Did you bump your fuckin’ head? Your audition is your body of work!”
Favreau: “She dyed her hair red before she got the part, and THAT was enthusiasm.”

Scarlett trained a lot to do her own fights, says the only solution is to put in the time, and as a moviegoer, she wants to see the actor doing it for real. “You wanna see the face, and recognize the body, so…” Thousands in the hall roar their approval of her body. She credits “a lot of egg-white omelets.”

Big cheers for Rockwell – surprisingly huge applause when MOON is mentioned. Have all these people really seen it?

Favreau is asked if he’ll direct AVENGERS. “I still got another year to go on this one, so whatever.” Notes, however, that Avengers doesn’t start till he’s done with IM2. Hasn’t been discussed, but he hopes to be involved somehow. Mentions he thinks Kenneth Branagh may also has a shot – he’s seen some early Thor designs and is impressed (this is the only mention of any other Marvel movie project).

Fan steps to the mic, says he was an intern for Marvel on the first film, and had to go through every Iron man comic to note minuscule costume changes. Wants to know if it was Favreau who made him do that.

Feige takes the blame, but Favreau adds: “You did it for these people. Now GET BACK TO WORK!”

Downey, on Rourke: “I thought I was crazy!”

Favreau remembers telling Rourke the character was a Russian ex-con. “Next thing I knew, he was in a Russian prison. And I had to learn from TMZ.” Says that 9-1/2 Weeks was the first Western film post-Perestroika to open wide in Russia, so Rourke is a “sex god” there, and loves to visit.

Downey: “And where do you o if you’re a sex god in Russia, but to prison?”

Finally, a fan asks Cheadle about Terrence Howard – how much of his performance was informed by him? “I tried to do it based on the script. I think we deal with it [the recasting] in an elegant way and move on, but being the vampire that I am, I tried to siphon off his performance.”

Last question? Fan asks if the studio ever approached Downey to play War Machine, since he was so good as an African-American in Tropic Thunder.

Downey: “You’re gonna waste the last question on THAT?” Calls the guy a smartass, says he likes that. “I want you to come work for my production company.”

One more question is allowed. A fan asks Cheadle if he prefers playing a good guy like in this, or a bad guy like in METEOR MAN.

Cheadle: “I don’t even know what that other movie is.”

I had forgotten too, until just now. Cheadle was in that? Time for a DVD rerelease with him on the cover.

17 Comments

How on earth was this the most anticipated panel? I think that would have to be the Avatar panel or something involving Peter Jackson.

Geoff M. Bolls • on Jul 26, 2009 12:59 am

Wow, seriously, you’re talking about a fucking comic book. A comic book. A comic book. A comic book. Iron Man is a a comic book. A comic book. A comic book from the 1960s. From the 1970s written by a bunch of second rate comic book writers employed by Stan Lee at 225 dollars a week at 555 Madison Avenue. This is a fucking comic book, a comic book, a comic book. What are you people thinking? That his is the second messiah of Hollywood. Jesus, what happened to Hal Ashby, Alan Pakula, Peter Bognanovich and Michael Ritchie. Francis Coppola anyone? We’re talking about a fucking Marvel comic book that sold on the news stand in 1968 for fifteen cents. It’s a fucking comic book people. That’s all. Is our entire culture arrested in adolescence at fourteen years old. Wake the fuck up.

Charles Wiltgen • on Jul 26, 2009 7:43 am

Geoff M. Bolls: “Why you kids today! Get off my lawn!”

Me: “Ha ha!”

Colin Fisher • on Jul 26, 2009 8:34 am

Geoff, it doesn’t matter if a movie like Iron Man came off a Bazooka Joe wrapper, it’s still a good movie. A good movie. A good fucking movie. Lighten the fuck up. Our entire culture does not revolve around Marvel Studios. Go watch Humpday or something.

• on Jul 26, 2009 8:48 am

What went up your ass Geoff?

koko • on Jul 26, 2009 8:50 am

well it is COMIC-con you two

Geoff is an assclown • on Jul 26, 2009 10:18 am

Wow, seriously, he’s talking about a fucking comic book movie at an event fucking called COMIC-CON. What the fuck else is going to be the highlight you dumbshit. Why the fuck would they talk about old shit like Harold and Maude or Sophie’s Choice at a convention about pop culture and comics you demented retard. Go fucking start a convention called Old-Ass Movie Con and you can talk about BogDanovich(with a “D” not an “N” you fucking spelling-bee reject) and you can talk about the Godfather til you’re blue in face from either that or your own dick in your mouth. That’s all. Why are there shit-for-brains automatons like you who insist that good shit be defined only by the amount of gold-plated statues they get at some pretentious bullshit awards show? Sorry some of us didn’t grow up reading Webster’s Dictionary and the fucking Encyclopedia Britannica when we were kids. I’m sorry that unlike you, we didn’t lose our virginity at 48 yrs. old to a paraplegic whore that felt sorry for us. Most of our entire culture, except cocksuckers like you, is made up of people who like to have some fun when they go to a movie every now and then – not go to a movie that makes you feel like shit and so depressed you just spend the rest of your evening jacking off to pictures of that paraplegic whore you fucked(that’s you Geoff). Sorry you’re childhood was so fucked up that you’d like to get as far away from it as possible. Shut the fuck up.

How else do you keep your customers in line?
Apparently Hollywood Studios conduct enough focus group research to “know” its audience.

Who wants to be an adult in this era when you can jerk yourself off in the loud, obnoxious, irresponsible wish fulfillment land of comic book faux heroism?

Maybe THAT’S why “Watchmen” failed. It unflinchingly explained the folly of super heroism & the psyche of those who worship it. Its audience couldn’t handle the truth.

David • on Jul 26, 2009 11:04 am

@Geoff

Holy cow, calm down man. You do realize this was at COMIC-CON right? Yes… “Comic”-Con, where people get excited about COMIC BOOK movies. The fact that you know so much about the the comic and Marvel is just evidence of how much comics are in our pop culture.

Johnny • on Jul 26, 2009 11:21 am

Geoffrey- That big sucking whoosh you heard a few years was your era passing you by. Your common sense and sense of reality must have been sucked into the vacuum it created. Good luck with the now. BTW- good luck with getting your academy screeners converted to 1/2″.

Ted Burke • on Jul 26, 2009 2:19 pm

Geoff, I like most of the directors you’ve mentioned in your first post , but you do seem rather dense that this post is a report from a convention dedicated to science and fantasy narrative forms. What makes your complaint even more unsympathetic is is that you sound like you’ve been nursing this imagined wound for a while and chose this comment stream to dump your odious load of bad faith. Not a good move, my friend. In addition, dropping F Bombs may make you feel better for a short while, but they don’t persuade others to pay attention to your finer points. Really, you become the subject rather than your pet issue, the dearth of good movies coming out of Hollywood.It’s likely you’d rather hear yourself rant than watch a classic film.

• on Jul 26, 2009 2:57 pm

It’s really sad to witness posters justifying stupidity & refusing to rebel against the studio status quo. Apparently the same people who sneer @ fans in production mtgs calling them “joe 6 pack” & “fanbats” have a point when they say “Transformers” is about as deep as these people can go.
There was a time when genre meant depth & artistry went hand in hand w/ entertainment, like “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Rosemary’s Baby” et al.
Even “Planet of the Apes” & “Omega Man” made you think.
Now, genre movies w/ intelligent, thought provoking themes like “Moon” only get a limited release.
Unless you folks wake up & demand more, you’ll only get more of the same; until, of course, the execs decide based on your intelligence you’ll settle for even less.

justsaying • on Jul 26, 2009 3:54 pm

@ Dan

The writer clearly has something against James Cameron. It’s evident in his other posts, too.

Rick • on Jul 27, 2009 10:20 am

Whoopee! I’m so happy you were able to use your “press” credentials while saps like me waited HOURS to get into panels, and in my case NOT get into AVATAR. How come no mention about how idiotic the “questions” were, or what a spaz that Access Hollywood dude was (even prompting a crack from the Marvel President after the crowd boo’d him). The event has turned into a suffocating zoo that’s given me a phobia of crowds I’ve never had in my ten years of Con going.

I’m no “joe 6 pack”(as that dimwit Palin would label me), but you’ve got to admit… directors like Sam Raimi, Jon Favreau and Chris Nolan are making comic movies a lot more relevant than the campy garbage from the past(Tim Burton’s Batman not so bad but I’d like to assassinate Joel Schumacher for trying to destroy the franchise). I understand that there’s alot of junk coming out of Hollywood these days. Don’t presume to include all comic movies in the crap column. Going to watch a movie like 2001: A Space Odyssey is like a trip to the museum – it’s quiet, somewhat boring, but you appreciate the art. Going to Ironman is like a trip to Disneyland – there’s alot to see, it’s fun, and if you went on opening day, the lines might’ve been just as long. Another thing is, Disneyland probably makes more money than the average museum- as the movies I compared them to also did respectively.

Yes, Transformers was not very good. However, I watched it not hoping for the next Oscar winner, but hoping to have a good time. Unfortunately I didn’t, but that doesn’t mean I won’t go see part 3(and you bet your box office there’s going to be a third). I wish snooty people like you and Geoff would take movies for what they are – entertainment. And here’s a safe conclusion: a movie that entertains, may not always be art. However a movie that is art, may not always entertain. Rare is the occasion that a movie will be both artistic and entertaining. If people like you had their way and studios only released Kubrick and Scorsese type movies – then summer would just be another regular season for the box office and people wouldn’t be able to see movies until they turned 17 – because they’d all be rated R.